1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to requesting, obtaining, navigating, presenting, organizing, etc., on-line (i.e., Web, Internet, etc.) search results. More particularly, the present invention relates to ranking search results presented to an on-line user as a function of perspectives of relationships trusted by the user.
2. Background Art
A social network site is an on-line (i.e., Web, Internet, etc.) site that provides a virtual community for on-line users (i.e., user members). Social network site users interact and communicate with one another via blogging, instant messaging, posting messages, e-mailing, etc., about shared interests and points of discussion. Social network site concepts and features are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0177385 (entitled “Method and System for Customizing Views of Information Associated with a Social Network User”) which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Each user of a social network site has a user profile. A user populates its user profile with general and personal information of the user. For example, a user profile of a user may include: aliases; contacts (e-mail address, etc.); residence; age; interests (sports, religion, hobbies, etc.); occupation; gender; marital status; list of other users of the social network site who are friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, etc.; on-line and off-line group memberships or affiliations; strength of relationships with other users of the social network site; etc.
As such, some users of social network sites have similar profiles in that, for example, they share the same occupation, have the same interests, belong to the same group, etc. Accordingly, these users have trusted relationships with one another in that they have something in common. These trusted relationships can strengthen as these users communicate with one another. Likewise, users who have similar profiles in that they are friends, family, co-workers, colleagues, etc., of one another have trusted relationships as they are likely to be familiar with one another. Even if such users are strangers these users still have trusted relationships as they belong to the same group and are likely to know other users in the group who know the users that are strangers. Again, these trusted relationships can strengthen as these users communicate with one another. Generally, people such as users of social network sites value the opinions of other people that they trust and that have similar interests or tastes to themselves (i.e., those people with which they have trusted relationships).
In addition to enabling social network sites, Internet providers enable users to perform on-line searches to locate desired information. In operation, an on-line search provider presents the search results to the user in a numerical order. If there is a relatively large number of search results, then the provider organizes the search results into groups in which a first group is presented to the user, then a second group, and so on. The provider may organize the search results into numerical order and groups based on factors which are not necessarily in the interest of the user. For example, the provider may place search results associated with a customer of the provider higher than other search results even though the other search results appear to contain the desired information, whereas the search results associated with the customer do not. Furthermore, some of the search results may appear to contain the desired information even though they do not.
As such, the desired information may be included in the search results but the user does not actually obtain the desired information because: the desired information is presented in a later group and the user gives up reviewing the search results before reaching this group; the user confuses information in the search results as being the desired information; other information in the search results fraudulently or inadvertently appears to be the desired information; etc. Additionally, the user may not want to rely on the results obtained as they are not familiar with the source or feel that the source may be biased, for example, a company promoting its own products.
As an example of on-line searching for ‘trusted’ product, service, or web site information in its current form, an on-line user investigates a product of interest to the user in accordance with the following paradigm. First, the user conducts a search of on-line content containing or related to a ‘Keyword(s)’ identifying the product of interest. For example, the keyword is ‘digital camera’ and the product of interest is a digital camera. In response, an on-line provider searches for on-line content which is related to digital cameras. As can be expected, much on-line content is related to digital cameras. As such, the provider organizes the located content (i.e., the search results) into numerical orders and groupings and then presents same to the user. Typically, entries of titles and short descriptions of the presented content are initially presented to the user who, in turn, may ‘click’ on an entry to obtain the full document, web site, etc., associated therewith. For example, the clicked content contains reviews submitted by other people regarding certain types of digital cameras. The user may then read or access the clicked content to read reviews provided by others regarding digital cameras.
One problem with this scenario of on-line searching in its current form is that the user has no way of knowing whether the people writing the reviews are indeed being truthful of their assessment, are actually knowledgeable consumers, have a bias (are employees), have the same likes or dislikes as the user, etc. It would be desirable if the entries of the search result which have reviews written by people having some sort of shared interest as the user were presented (i.e., ranked) at the top of the search result listing for the user. More particularly, it would be desirable if the entries of the search result which have reviews deemed popular and/or trusted and/or authoritative by other users that the user trusts (i.e., other users with which the user has a trusted relationship and thereby respects their preferences) were presented (i.e., ranked) at the top of the search result listing for the user. Likewise, it would be desirable if the entries of the search result which are somehow related to a profile of the user were presented (i.e., ranked) at the top of the search result listing for the user. Likewise, it would be desirable if the entries of the search result which are somehow related to preferences of a group to which the user belongs were presented (i.e., ranked) at the top of the search result listing for the user. The present invention enables such desirable features.
As another example of the problem associated with on-line searching in its current form, consider a web site directed to hotels. Such a web site includes reviews of hotels written by people. A problem for the user when reading the reviews is that the user has no idea of whether the reviews are bogus. For instance, a hotel may encourage a person with an incentive to write a flattering review of the hotel. Likewise, the user reading a review of a hotel has no idea on whether the person writing the review has the same likes or dislikes as the user. That is, the user does not know how much the user has in common with the person writing the review. It would be desirable if the reviews which were written by people having something in common with the user and/or the reviews deemed popular by other users that the user trusts and/or the reviews which are somehow related to preferences of a group to which the user belongs were presented (i.e., ranked) at the top of the review list for the user. Again, the present invention enables such desirable features.
In sum, the current paradigm for a user to learn about a product of interest to the user is the user (a) conducting a search to locate information regarding the product; (b) finding reviews about the product in the located information; and (c) reading the reviews. The current paradigm can be termed as a “search” and, as indicated above, generally suffers from the problem of being carried out without using perspectives and preferences of people that the user trusts for the search and/or without using perspectives and preferences of the user him/herself. More particularly, the current paradigm can be termed as a “search and review” whereas it is desirable to have a paradigm which has the characteristic of “review the search”.